Atheist Twilight Zone Phenomenon (tell me I'm not the only one)

Recently... Well not exactly recently. For quite a while now I have this odd experience from time to time. I just came across this site today and it seemed like the best place to ask. It's not the kind of thing that's easy to google. I call it the Twilight Zone Phenomenon due to it's resemblance to an episode of the aforementioned show.

So here's the setup. I'll be going about my business. Perhaps walking to or from classes on campus. When quite out of no where I am hit by the overwhelming realization that I am surrounded by people who actually believe in god. Not like, "Hey we have debates about whether there's a god or not". To the contrary it's more like, "Wait, these grown, adult people are actually talking about make believe stuff like it's real". Perhaps someone standing close by is talking about what "the heavenly Father" wants from us all. In that moment there is almost a sense of vertigo. Like I've slipped right off the rails into bizarro world. One thing that puzzles me about this is the fact that I used to believe that same nonsense. In a way it shouldn't seem so surreal and alien to me, but it does. Sometimes so much so, that it takes me a few minutes to make the 'M.Night Shyamalan twist ending' feeling go away.

So I'm extremely curious about the experiences of other Atheists with regard to this sensation. Is it common? Does someone have a better word for it than 'surreal'? I'm trying to come up with a better description. Something that captures the intensity of the event without having to make a dozen pop culture references.

Sometimes this happens to me...but if I have any kind of physical feelings, it's more the sensation of stillness and being very alert, as if I were stepping aside and viewing my life and our crazy culture from the perspective of an anthropologist.

I have experienced that feeling in some small towns in Canada. You drive into town, notice there are quite a few churches for such a small place, then start hearing the theistic references when you get out of your car. I actually went and lived in such a town for a few years and at times it was like a Stephen King novel. I literally looked around for hidden cameras on occasion, thinking perhaps it was all part of an elaborate gag tv show.

"There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone." (Rod Serling)

Yes, I've experienced it. It's kind of like an out-of-body thing, super awareness, extreme focus and even a little disorientating. Usually only lasting a few minutes until you shake yourself lose from the feeling. Interesting but a little creepy too.

@Leela, and Kairan Yes this is exactly it. I find it really interesting from a social and psychological perspective. Who knows... Might make for a good research project one of these days. I can only imagine what the fMRI images would look like of a brain during one of these episodes.

You are not alone, like you I also grew up whole heartily believing in the absurdity called Christianity. We were “non-denominational” which was pretty much Pentecostal without the dress code. The whole shebang that church did: casting out demons, speaking in tongues, running around the church holding giant jesus signs, bringing your own tambourine to church to “praise” along, “slaying” with the “spirit,” oil on the forehead, witnessing, productions in the middle of the mall, I mean we did it all. So when I see or hear people talking and doing things about and for god, I also get a strange surge of emotions. I listen to what comes out of their mouths and it’s astonishing that they actually believe this and think its true and real, then I remember back to the crazy stuff I use to do and believe when I was younger and in the church, and I’m just amazed at what people will believe, because at one point at my life I was exactly the same. Granted I was raised from birth to think everything was normal and you were strange to not think all that BS is nothing but the truth, it was the only way I knew how to live. But despite all that, its still so surreal to see it today, and astonishing what people will believe when they are contempt in whatever fairy tale religion they cling to when fact, truth and logic are all around them. But I think they live in another dimension, one where things like facts and tangible truths are invisible and sound like strange monster noises. I mean how else do you explain the anger and confusion that comes out of christian‘s mouth when an atheist or anyone not of the same belief trys to reason, and how logic seems to not exist. Dimension Dumb: the plane of existence for the ignorant and religious.

Dawkins put in succinctly. We are surrounded by delusion, all religions. When bombarded by dogma continuously, I think it does change the brain physically and Steven Pinker and others have suggested this.

I can't really say that I've experienced this exact thing, but there are times when I'm just really aware that everyone around me believes in supernatural things. I'll just be talking to them normally, and then all of a sudden its like, "wow, all these people believe in god", and then I start to wonder what their thoughts sound like. What is it like to believe that a higher power is there watching everything you do, and do they talk to it everyday? I never had religion to begin with, so I can't really comprehend what its like to actually believe the things theists believe.

I had that feeling... I was in a diner and a lady in the booth behind me was with her friends. They were all southerners and were talking about the supposed divine intervention in their lives, and she starts talking about how she "heard god tell me to get these shoes, and sure enough I look great in them."

So, as though people saying they can feel an imaginary presence wasn't twisted enough, the idea that an entity would create the universe and with all that magical power, would feel the need to give a woman shoe shopping advice kinda put me into that moment; My fellow human beings literally think voices in their head are telling them what to do... and they trust these voices enough to follow them.